Network based applications provide many services, including media sharing, social networking, entertainment, etc. With the development of web based applications, devices have been developed for network connectivity. For example, many manufactures market display devices (e.g., TV's) as enabled for network connectivity. As such, users may desire to utilize devices for networked activities such as email, browsing for content and third-party applications. One inconvenience users have is the lack of a convenient keyboard. Many display devices and user interfaces employ a software keyboard, such as a displayed character set for selection of one or more characters. However, this method of providing characters is inconvenient as it requires a user to navigate to each character. Another option is to employ a Bluetooth™ keyboard. This, however, requires a Bluetooth™ capability for the display device and results in added cost. What is desired is a solution that allows for providing character input via a communication network employing network capability functions of a display device.